The Jishwasher
$3,940
24″ built-in · 22 pairs · Copper-riveted control bar
Refrigeration
The Jidge
Nineteen months. Four failed prototypes. One appliance we were willing to sell.
$6,150
Includes installation and haul-away of your existing unit.
Sheathing a refrigerator is not upholstery. The panel must hold tension across a door opened two thousand times a year, tolerate condensation at the gasket line, and never obstruct the compressor intake. The Jidge is the fifth thing we built and the first that worked.
Development
Four refrigerators we could not sell
Prototypes one through three bonded denim directly to the cabinet and all three failed identically: condensation collected behind the fabric at the door seal with nowhere to go. Prototype four used a rigid shell and could not be serviced without cutting it off, which we discovered when a technician arrived to replace a thermostat and left ninety minutes later having replaced nothing.
- 19 Months in development
- 4 Failed prototypes
- 90 Minutes that taught us the most
The floating sleeve
Our first three prototypes bonded denim directly to the cabinet. All three failed the same way: condensation collected behind the fabric at the door seal and had nowhere to go. The fourth used a rigid shell and could not be serviced without cutting it off.
The fifth is a floating sleeve. Denim is tensioned over an anodised aluminium sub-frame held eleven millimetres off the cabinet at forty-two points. Air moves behind the fabric. The compressor breathes. A technician can strip the whole assembly in under four minutes and refit it in six, which is the only reason we are willing to put fabric on an appliance at all.
In the crate
- Full installation, levelling, and haul-away of your existing unit
- Six brass pins and a leather-cornered notice board for the upper door rail
- A spare front panel in your run’s wash grade
- Ten-year sealed-system warranty; lifetime on the sheathing
- A water line. The Jidge does not dispense ice, and we do not intend for it to.
- Any surface to which a magnet will adhere.
Ownership
Care
- Wipe the sleeve with a barely damp cloth. Do not saturate.
- Vacuum the lower vent grille twice a year with the sleeve in place.
- Remove the sleeve before any water-line or coil service.
- Expect a faint indigo shadow at the handle within the first year.
Questions we are asked
Before you commit
Does the denim affect cooling efficiency?
No. The sleeve floats eleven millimetres off the cabinet and airflow at the condenser is unobstructed. Independent testing returned an efficiency delta of 1.2%, which is inside measurement tolerance.
Can I put magnets on it?
Denim is not ferrous. This is the most common question we receive and the reason every Jidge ships with six brass pins and a notice board that mounts to the upper door rail.
Is it a fire risk?
The sheathing is treated to meet CAL TB 117-2013 and sits away from every heat-generating component. The compressor is at the base, outside the sleeve entirely.
What if something spills down the front?
Release the four lower clips, draw the sleeve off, and air-dry it flat for forty-eight hours. Do not machine wash it. Indigo may migrate slightly at the hem, which we consider acceptable and which most owners come to prefer.
Does it hum differently?
Slightly. The sleeve damps the compressor by about 3 dBA, which several owners have described as the Jidge being quieter and which is, technically, correct.
Pairs with
The rest of the room
The Jouch
$4,280
Three-seat sofa · 41 pairs · Kiln-dried ash frame
The Jarpet
$92 / sq. ft.
Wall-to-wall flooring · Hand-laid tiles · Jute backing